Héctor Mercado, a seasoned 3D generalist and VFX artist from the Dominican Republic, steps into new territory with his entry for the 2024 Reallusion 3D Character Contest and wins the special award for Best Render. Inspired by Dua Lipa’s Houdini music video, Héctor utilizes Character Creator, iClone, KeenTools, Blender, and ZBrush to craft his fan work, exploring character creation and animation in ways that push his creative boundaries.
Héctor Mercado
With over 15 years of experience in motion graphics, post-production, and fluid simulation, Héctor has contributed to numerous TV commercials. From 2021 to 2023, he worked on VFX and fluid simulations for Capitán Avispa, a local animated movie released in April 2024. Héctor started sculpting likeness in ZBrush a couple of years ago, gradually building his skills and diving deeper into character creation.
Concept
The idea for Héctor’s project came together serendipitously. While considering entering the contest, he stumbled upon Dua Lipa’s Houdini music video, which he hadn’t seen before despite being a fan of the song. Inspired by the visuals and motivated by a long-standing desire to sculpt a likeness of Dua Lipa, Héctor decided to give it a try, blending his passion for music and 3D art.
Blender Pipeline & KeenTools
Héctor faced one of his biggest challenges early on: achieving a convincing likeness. However, the KeenTools FaceBuilder add-on for Blender proved to be a game-changer. It allowed him to refine his character’s likeness before seamlessly integrating it into Character Creator’s Headshot 2, giving him a strong foundation to build upon.
Blender’s Auto Setup feature further simplified Héctor’s workflow. “Character Creator’s Auto Setup in Blender was a huge help in bringing the character over to Blender complete with shaders ready to render and setting a Rigify rig with a single click”, Héctor shares. The countless hours saved allowed him to focus on refining poses and animations with ease.
Using Blender’s Cycles render engine, Héctor created stunning visual results, capturing the essence of his character with lifelike lighting and textures. The seamless integration between Character Creator and Blender allowed him to achieve professional-quality renders that brought his vision to life.
Why Character Creator & iClone
Héctor credits Character Creator for significantly streamlining his workflow. Its integration with Blender allowed him to pose and animate his character efficiently. Although he initially faced technical difficulties animating in iClone, the experience highlighted the potential of iClone’s animation tools for future projects.
ZBrush Pipeline & Face Tools
Héctor’s workflow also relied heavily on ZBrush, where he used GoZ and Face Tools to refine expressions and mesh details. Introduced to these tools through Michael Pavlovich’s tutorials, Héctor was impressed by their ability to simplify complex workflows, especially for newcomers to character creation. The seamless integration between ZBrush and Character Creator bridged technical gaps and made the process far more intuitive.
Looking Ahead
Héctor is determined to deepen his skills as a character artist, leveraging the powerful integration of Character Creator, iClone, ZBrush, Blender, and Unreal Engine. Revisiting and refining the likeness sculpt for this project is high on his to-do list, as he continues to explore and push the boundaries of his craft.
By adopting new tools and workflows, he created a standout entry for the 2024 Reallusion 3D Character Contest and set the stage for ongoing artistic development. His journey is another demonstration that the right tools and mindset can drive innovation and overcome any creative challenge.
Related Posts
